critical analysis of EVENING RETURNS: Wits University

     photo courtesy: Bunguswa Brian

This is a powerful and evocative poem by Bunguswa Brian, capturing the complex layers of deception, endurance, and eventual renewal within a broken family. His powerful use of imagery and symbolism—mirrors that flinch, walls echoing false steps, and a wedding ring feasting on rot—is haunting yet elegant. Each stanza builds tension until the final hopeful crescendo in stanza VII, which affirms healing without bitterness.

Title: “Evening Returns”

The title itself is metaphorical. “Evening” implies a cycle—like her deceptive comings and goings. The word “Returns” signals both repetition and inevitability, evoking resignation and emotional fatigue.

Structure and Tone:

Seven stanzas reflect stages of realization, from quiet observation (I–III) to confrontation and emotional awakening (IV–VII).

The tone shifts from subtle bitterness to quiet strength, portraying the speaker’s growth.

Key Literary Devices:

Simile & Metaphor:

“She walks in like dusk—quiet and painted” sets a somber tone.

“Kisses timed like a clock with broken trust” juxtaposes affection with dysfunction.

Personification:

“Mirrors flinch,” “silence sets our table”—animate inanimate objects to convey the speaker’s tension.

Alliteration & Sound:

“Feasting on the rot beneath her wedding ring” — the hard consonants sharpen the emotional pain.

Themes:

Deception vs. Appearance: Her ability to conceal betrayal behind a mask of domesticity.

Patience in Pain: The family’s silent endurance is shown not as weakness, but as a choice to preserve dignity.

Truth and Redemption: The speaker doesn’t seek vengeance but transformation—a powerful moral resolution.

Closing Reflection:

This poem reads like a quiet scream—a restrained but deeply emotional confrontation with betrayal. The final line, “from this ash, we plant honesty’s seed,” not only closes the poem with hope but elevates the act of surviving deception into something almost sacred.

@L. Nyongesa, WITS UNIVERSITY